It may require a peculiarly optimistic view of life to be enthralled by the prospect of the fourth one-day international against Australia, which should take place on Saturday in Chester-le-Street.

The country has been engulfed by flood warnings and, although Durham may have avoided the worst of it, the river Wear was brown and in full spate upon arrival. It is not cricket weather. However, the forecast for today is not so bad. After the abandonment of the Edgbaston game on Wednesday there is a chance of play at the Riverside.

Yet Graeme Swann may be in the best place – somewhere else. He is resting a slightly dodgy elbow and so will be spared the possibility of staring out of a dressing room window pondering yet again whether there will be any play. Swann, like Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad, is one of the crown jewels, a player who hopes to play in all three forms of the game for England, and every opportunity should be taken to rest him.

Critics of the rotation system often miss a crucial point. It is not the number of overs that Broad, Anderson or Swann propel in a summer that is so debilitating. In a sense that is the easy bit. An ODI in this era takes three days out of a cricketer's life, not one: there is a day of travel, another of meticulous preparation the following day and then there is the game. It is the time away in yet another gym/hotel room that gnaws away and it makes it worse when all that preparation is futile because it is so wet.

However, not everyone in Durham is so gloomy. Swann's absence gives a chance to somebody else. First off the bench is likely to be Samit Patel, who has yet to play in one of this summer's ODIs but who has always been in the squad. He must be hoping for a game at Chester-le Street on Saturday.

So, too, will James Tredwell, the off-spinner from Kent. He last played international cricket 16 months ago in the World Cup when he did not disgrace himself. Against West Indies in Chennai he took four for 48, enabling England to reach the quarter-finals. Since then he has disappeared from view. It is not much fun being Swann's understudy. It is very hard to surpass him and Swann's body has also proved pretty durable.

Tredwell, the proud owner of six ODI caps as well as a solitary Test cap, understands the situation. "You try to emulate Graeme Swann but he is the man in possession," he said. "All the time he is doing really well it is going to be tough to push him out. It is slightly difficult but you have to enjoy where you are.

"If I wasn't a cricketer, I might be a dustman or something. Every day is a bonus really" – even if it is a wet one in the very north of England.

It has been a frustrating summer for spinners. The ball is seldom dry and the same goes for the pitch. In fact the surface is usually green and friendly to seam bowlers. If play is possible here, England may well decide that one spinner, in the shape of Patel, may be sufficient to support their battery of seamers.

The pack now includes Chris Woakes, who has replaced Jade Dernbach in the squad for the past two games.

Spare a thought for the Australians as well. They have travelled a long way for this sodden series, which England lead 2-0 with two matches to play. The idea was to introduce some of their youngsters to the peculiar pleasures and challenges of touring England before next summer's Ashes series. But so far they have been soundly beaten; the novices have yet to excel and Pat Cummins, a promising paceman, has acquired an injury.

For everyone's peace of mind – including another harassed county chief executive – we could do with a few rays of sunshine.

Teams for the fourth NatWest Series match between England and Australia at the Riverside